There is much debate as to the exact reason(s) for this national catastrophe, which was the last peacetime famine in western civilization; but the fact that Ireland’s citizenry was unwillingly under the sovereignty of the British crown at a time of the British empires' rapid growth and prosperity, is undisputed.
Depending on the source the Great Irish famine 1845-52 is attributed variously to the potato blight phytophthora infestans that swept Europe at that time[i]; the absentee (British) landlord system; an act of divine punishment for the laziness and ignorance of the Irish peasant class; the greed of Irish and British merchants; gross mismanagement by the British government of the ensuing crisis, or genocide.
This debate of attribution and the horrors of the calamity itself, half of whose victims were children, has led to barriers in the development of famine tourism which might target the domestic and international tourist, despite a strong interest from both markets.
An Irish Peasant Family Discovering the Blight of their Store. Daniel MacDonald, c. 1847
British government policy and the ideological war being waged between factions within it created the perfect storm for mass starvation in Ireland; the act of union had rendered Ireland the bread basket of England and the ports were not opened to food imports and closed to food exports as they had been in previous crisis such as in 1782-4. The policy in Belgium, also suffering from the blight, was to take these exact measures. The Dutch government too repealed its protective corn laws in 1846 to allow bread to be sold cheaply. By the end of 1847 even the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Clarendon is said to have told the British Prime Minister that “Ireland has been sacrificed to the London Corn Dealers”. [2]
A Malthusian Affair?
Renowned British economist Malthus (b. 1766, d.1834) spoke in the British House of Parliament on the subject of the assisted emigration of undesirable English poor. He proposed that that this was pointless when the Irish poor would clamor to take their place, and suggested that rather a policy should be implemented to remove the agrarian Irish peasant from what was now Britain's breadbasket (Headon, 2018).
Official British Intent?
A fan of Malthusian theory, Russell sent an emissary to Ireland in 1835 with two instructions; to ascertain how to set up the first rates (tax) collection system in Ireland and to suggest a system for clearing the excess peasantry from the land. The solution would solve both issues; over 100 workhouses were to be built and the workhouse union administrators taken from the governing classes would levy the rates on the Irish citizenry from these bases. The monumental cost of this project would also be levied on the Irish population. [2]
Policy:
The first of the Poor laws was passed against the objections of Daniel O'Connell and other Irish parliamentarians. Unlike Britain in the throes of the industrial revolution, Ireland did not have a burgeoning middle class to help carry the cost; furthermore, the system in Ireland over the seven years of famine was for the most part indoor relief ( workhouses) rather than outdoor relief (soup kitchens). This meant that a starving peasant entering the workhouse for respite must relinquish his meager plot or be ' shown the road.'
The second Poor law contained the egregious ' Gregory Clause' named after the Dublin based MP who suggested it. Any starving peasant with more than a quarter acre of land could not receive assistance. [3]
[i] Ó Gráda, Cormac (2006), Ireland's Great Famine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Dublin Press.
[2] Headon , 2018, The Potato was not the Problem,
[3] Christine Kinealy, Food Exports from Ireland 1846-47 (1997) History Ireland, 18th -19th Century History, Features, Issue 1 The Famine, Vol 5
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